Immigrant population of cities around the world

[dimondpark]

This is by counties and cities.

US Counties by the Number of
Foreign Born Persons with a
Graduate or Professional Degree, 2024:
325,771---Los Angeles, CA
262,484---Santa Clara, CA
174,977---King, WA
170,357---Cook, IL
159,346---Miami-Dade, FL
153,189---Harris, TX
139,593---Orange, CA
129,781---Alameda, CA
128,674---New York, NY
119,279---San Diego, CA
117,660---Middlesex, MA
114,325---Kings, NY
111,542---Queens, NY
101,261---Broward, FL

93,808----Collin, TX
90,408----Montgomery, MD
87,781----Fairfax, VA
86,155----Maricopa, AZ
71,009----Middlesex, NJ
68,963----Ft Bend, TX
68,473----Dallas, TX
64,885----Travis, TX
64,612----Hudson, NJ
61,861----Nassau, NY
61,304----San Mateo, CA
59,846----Wake, NC
58,909----San Francisco, CA
57,734----Bergen, NJ
57,492----Oakland, MI
56,498----Contra Costa, CA
51,848----Palm Beach, FL
48,267----Fulton, GA
47,643----Westchester, NY
46,143----Denton, TX
46,123----Orange, FL
45,084----Hillsborough, FL
42,739----Tarrant, TX
42,010----Norfolk, MA
40,677----Philadelphia, PA
40,266----Clark, NV
39,613----Suffolk, MA
38,084----Sacramento, CA
37,584----Riverside, CA
37,379----Washington, DC
37,277----Williamson, TX
37,168----DuPage, IL
36,324----Gwinnett, GA
34,792----Snohomish, WA
34,532----San Bernardino, CA
33,567----Loudoun, VA
32,408----Essex, NJ
32,230----Montgomery, PA
31,757----Mecklenburg, NC
31,286----Washington, OR
31,213----Somerset, NJ
30,385----Bronx, NY
30,268----Hennepin, MN
29,425----Prince George's, MD
29,232----Bexar, TX
28,582----Western CT, CT
27,965----Allegheny, PA
27,662----Wayne, MI
27,341----Lake, IL
27,233----Suffolk, NY
25,551----Mercer, NJ
25,267----Baltimore, MD
24,629----Cobb, GA
24,231----Morris, NJ
24,078----Capitol CT, CT
24,057----Franklin, OH
23,480----St Louis, MO
23,342----Worcester, MA
21,968----Cuyahoga, OH
21,012----Forsyth, GA
21,007----Ventura, CA
20,043----Pima, AZ

US Cities by the Number of
Foreign Born Persons with a
Graduate or Professional Degree, 2024:
399,010---New York, NY
136,682---Los Angeles, CA
103,568---San Jose, CA
90,359----Chicago, IL
79,847----Houston, TX
75,795----San Diego, CA
58,909----San Francisco, CA
56,483----Seattle, WA
56,299----Austin, TX
42,485----Fremont, CA
40,677----Philadelphia, PA
37,735----Jersey City, NJ
37,379----Washington, DC
37,069----Boston, MA
36,038----Irvine, CA
33,758----Bellevue, WA
30,376----Dallas, TX
32,939----Sunnyvale, CA
29,846----Phoenix, AZ
29,710----Frisco, TX
29,163----Miami, FL
28,239----Santa Clara, CA
25,731----Plano, TX
24,651----Charlotte, NC
20,023----Mountain View, CA
19,747----Cary, NC
19,532----San Antonio, TX
18,040----Denver, CO
17,765----Columbus, OH
17,509----Atlanta, GA
16,909----Ft Worth, TX
16,198----Tampa, FL
16,184----Redmond, WA
16,127----San Ramon, CA
16,095----McKinney, TX
15,849----Cambridge, MA
15,857----Arlington, VA
15,321----Oakland, CA
14,745----Raleigh, NC
14,448----Indianapolis, IN
14,357----Glendale, CA
13,881----Portland, OR
13,860----Jacksonville, FL
13,824----Palo Alto, CA
13,019----Nashville, TN
12,684----Milpitas, CA
12,394----Pembroke Pines, FL
12,320----Sacramento, CA
12,318----Naperville, IL
12,186----Baltimore, MD
11,729----Johns Creek, GA
11,639----Chandler, AZ
11,606----Sugar Land, TX
11,544----Oklahoma City, OK
11,460----Troy, MI
11,426----Durham, NC
11,252----Hialeah, FL
11,185----Kirkland, WA
11,130----Pleasanton, CA
10,856----Tucson, AZ
10,734----El Paso, TX
10,395----Dublin, CA
10,374----Sammamish, WA
10,092----Newton, MA

[38 Geary]

Some photos to illustrate. A very diverse crowd, no doubt, but very few actual Asians aside from workers. The most Asians I saw that weren't actually workers was for Molly Tea, a boba shop.

Side note: lots of folks wearing shorts! I remember people on SSP used to say people in Europe don't wear shorts in the city... but I guess things have changed

















PC: 38 Geary

[iheartthed]

London and Paris pull from their former colonies and Europe. Immigration to Toronto also seemed very indexed towards former British colonies (and Montreal might be indexed to former French colonies?). New York pulls most from former Spanish colonies, but also from former British colonies, French colonies, and even from the uncolonized world.

[Docere]

Born in Sub-Saharan Africa

Greater London 557,428
Paris Region 485,258*
Washington Metro Area 222,072
New York Metro Area 215,791
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 133,705


* listed countries only

[Docere]

Born in Global South, British Commonwealth nations + Hong Kong:

Greater London 1,199,202
New York Metro Area 1,168,237
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 1,067,190


* listed countries only

[Docere]

Born in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Greater London 671,692
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 658,710
New York Metro Area 577,480

Born in English-speaking West Indies and Guyana

New York Metro Area 615,845
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 233,650
Greater London 129,252

[muppet]

Originally Posted by Docere

Born in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Greater London 94,549
New York Metro Area 542,194
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 411,075

Even when Hong Kong went from British to Chinese control, few moved to London, far more went to Canada and probably the US.

No I didnt mean when HK went to Mainland China in 1997 (those figures are from 2021 census), but these past 4 years - there's been a huge influx following political upheaval.

When China instated the National Security Law in 2020, allowing Hong Kongers to be extradited into the Mainland, UK under pressure, reacted by opening up a route and overhauling its British Nationals Overseas rules. The result after 2021 was 180,000 Hong Kongers moving over after getting the Right to Remain.





The new BN(O) route:




2026 has seen it further, by allowing children whose parents were born after 1979 (effectively anyone who was a minor at time of Handover) to also apply, so expect a new wave.

Concurrent to all this, has seen a return of Chinese students after the pandemic drought years -150,000 now enrol annually -the country's largest international group.

London's Chinese and Taiwanese population would be nearer 180K-200K now methinks (city proper).

[Docere]

One thing to note is that London's West Indian immigration was earlier, and immigration flows have shifted from London to New York and Miami. Mass immigration of Jamaicans to London was at the same time as the Puerto Rican migration to New York (and the second Great Migration of African Americans). This explains the lower number of immigrants from the West Indies.

[Docere]

Auckland (2018 Census)

Born outside New Zealand 666,813

Asia (listed) 267,336
Oceania (listed) 133,965

China 96,540
United Kingdom 76,242
India 71,358
Fiji 44,658
Samoa 38,232
South Africa 36,759
Philippines 30,237
Australia 21,903
South Korea 21,753
Tonga 20,913
Malaysia 11,607
United States 8,988
Sri Lanka 8,529
Cook Islands 8,259
Hong Kong 8,069
Taiwan 7,113
Japan 6,279
Vietnam 5,859
Germany 5,253

# 50000+: 3
# 20000+: 10
# 10000+: 11
# 5000+: 19

[Docere]

Originally Posted by nito

Namely that the US figures are from 2024, whilst those for the Australian, British and Canadian cities are 2021, and that for Paris 2022.

The US figures are 5-year estimates, not 1-year estimates. Covering 2020-24.

I also didn't use the bloated CSAs.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

For US metro areas larger than 1 million people, the lowest percentages of foreign-born are in Birmingham, Alabama (3.7%), St. Louis (5.1%), Cincinnati (5.3%), Pittsburgh (5.5%), and Memphis (5.6%).

These figures are all larger than the whole of Japan, South Korea, and probably elsewhere in East Asia, but I am suspicious of the low figures for the U.S. interior because there are literal armies of foreign workers toiling away in e-commerce warehouses across the interior of the United States that I bet are not being picked up by these numbers. It is not uncommon to enter a facility with 1,000+ workers that has almost zero U.S. citizens working in it. Like 50 out of 1,000 (I'm including management and the office workers).

I think it's safe to assume that there aren't many Mexican restaurants in Tokyo, but jet-setters always have multiple sets of rules. If such a person likes a place, they ignore what it doesn't have. If they dislike a place, they quickly point to what (and who) is missing as evidence of gross oversight and a lack of sophistication.

[mhays]

US stats don't just count citizens. Also green cards etc.

[Docere]

Compared to other Latin Americans, Brazilians are more likely to be found outside the US.

Born in Brazil

Boston Metro Area 78,441
New York Metro Area 74,820
Miami Metro Area 69,696
Greater London 55,787
Paris Region 22,840
Los Angeles Metro Area 19,237
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 15,425
San Francisco Metro Area 15,023
Washington Metro Area 14,314
Dallas Metro Area 11,912
Houston Metro Area 11,835

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

US stats don't just count citizens. Also green cards etc.

Being quite familiar with the issue, I'll assert that there is no way to correctly count these people since many immigrant workers are employed by staffing agencies that are HQ'd in cities with major international airports (i.e. Chicago) but then the workers are sent into the hinterlands while still using major city addresses.

[mhays]

In census counts, it's where you live on 4/1, regardless of where you get your mail or what you consider your permanent address. This is why student housing and jail populations are counted (but not hotel guests). I imagine their estimates attempt to approximate the same.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Being quite familiar with the issue, I'll assert that there is no way to correctly count these people since many immigrant workers are employed by staffing agencies that are HQ'd in cities with major international airports (i.e. Chicago) but then the workers are sent into the hinterlands while still using major city addresses.

That makes no sense. Census estimates are based on imputations of local activities (births, deaths, utility hookups, school enrollment, etc.). And there is no such thing as staffing agencies sending people from Chicago to the hinterlands to work while obscuring actual addresses.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

In census counts, it's where you live on 4/1, regardless of where you get your mail or what you consider your permanent address. This is why student housing and jail populations are counted (but not hotel guests). I imagine their estimates attempt to approximate the same.

It's easy for people to picture how migrant farm workers move to where the work is depending on the season but the fact that people are shuttled around for manufacturing and warehouse work is much less well-known. The census bureau absolutely does not know where these people are living because there are often 10 people crowded into a house or apartment unit who never changed their address. People use cell phones and cash app so there is literally no record of them having lived in an area (unless the census bureau starts digging into cell phone data).

I've been around this stuff for years and its happening on such a huge scale that it's throwing off statistics for the smaller cities and towns. The media doesn't know this stuff is happening because most of the work is in the suburbs or in rural areas. The immigrants are not living in the cities - they're out in obscure suburban apartment complexes and even in rural areas. I have heard of people living in barns and even in box trucks.

[Docere]

# of countries, 10000+

New York Metro Area 68 1.00
Greater London 67 0.99
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 47 0.69
Greater Sydney 41 0.60
Los Angeles Metro Area 39 0.57
Greater Melbourne 34 0.50
Miami Metro Area 34 0.50
Washington Metro Area 33 0.49
Chicago Metro Area 27 0.40
Montreal Census Metropolitan Area 27 0.40
San Francisco Metro Area 23 0.34
Dallas Metro Area 22 0.32
Boston Metro Area 21 0.31
Houston Metro Area 21 0.31
Philadelphia Metro Area 19 0.28
Atlanta Metro Area 18 0.26
Seattle Metro Area 15 0.22
Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area 14 0.21

# of countries, 5000+:

New York Metro Area 92 1.00
Greater London 91 0.99
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area 73 0.79
Los Angeles Metro Area 56 0.61
Greater Sydney 53 0.58
Washington Metro Area 53 0.58
Greater Melbourne 48 0.52
Montreal Census Metropolitan Area 47 0.51
Boston Metro Area 44 0.48
Chicago Metro Area 42 0.46
Miami Metro Area 41 0.45
Houston Metro Area 37 0.40
San Francisco Metro Area 34 0.37
Atlanta Metro Area 33 0.36
Dallas Metro Area 33 0.36
Seattle Metro Area 29 0.32
Philadelphia Metro Area 27 0.29
Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area 26 0.28

Average:

New York 1.00
London 0.99
Toronto 0.74
Los Angeles 0.59
Sydney 0.59
Washington 0.53
Melbourne 0.51
Miami 0.47
Montreal 0.45
Chicago 0.43
Boston 0.40
Houston 0.36
San Francisco 0.36
Dallas 0.34
Atlanta 0.31
Philadelphia 0.29
Seattle 0.27
Vancouver 0.25

[craigs]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

It's easy for people to picture how migrant farm workers move to where the work is depending on the season but the fact that people are shuttled around for manufacturing and warehouse work is much less well-known. The census bureau absolutely does not know where these people are living because there are often 10 people crowded into a house or apartment unit who never changed their address. People use cell phones and cash app so there is literally no record of them having lived in an area (unless the census bureau starts digging into cell phone data).

I've been around this stuff for years and its happening on such a huge scale that it's throwing off statistics for the smaller cities and towns. The media doesn't know this stuff is happening because most of the work is in the suburbs or in rural areas. The immigrants are not living in the cities - they're out in obscure suburban apartment complexes and even in rural areas. I have heard of people living in barns and even in box trucks.

The statisticians have no information on the "huge scale" of the obscure phenomenon, the media doesn't know about it, the government doesn't know about it--but you, alone, possess the super-secret knowledge because you've been doing your own research!

Cool story, bro.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by craigs

The statisticians have no information on the "huge scale" of the obscure phenomenon, the media doesn't know about it, the government doesn't know about it--but you, alone, possess the super-secret knowledge because you've been doing your own research!

Cool story, bro.

What he describes is absolutely happening, and there’ve been watered down reports on it for years.